folding neoprene seals?

I just tried on a few drysuits, then finally bought one off craigslist. The owner of the first one told me that the seals need to be folded under to create a seal. The next guy told me I don't have to fold the seals. I bought one that requires the neck seal to be folded. What about the wrist seals? How does one know if the seals need to be folded? The suit I bought is a Harvey's 7mm neoprene. It's about 6 years old and has minimal use. If anyone knows anything about this suit, I'd appreciate some help. I'm going to dive in a friends pool to test it out (weight, configuration etc.)

Another thing...

this suit has the dump valve installed on the chest, directly above the inflator valve. This seems like a pain in the *** to vent. Does anyone have experience with this set up?

Thanks!

Fold the seals under. Wrists too.

If you want to try it with the wrists not folded, you might get a little seep. No big deal. It may just work fine.

neoprene seals are designed to be folded so the "skin" is against your skin..The neck seal is made this way ,so fold the neck seal so the smooth neoprene skin is against your own..for the wrist usually the smooth neoprene is on the inside so no need to fold these..if you do fold the wrist and have nylon against your skin it will leak..

As oly said, most neoprene seals have a nylon side and a smooth rubber "skin" side. The seal should be folded or not so as to get skin on skin.

At a guess I would think your suit is considerably more than 6 years old. My first drysuit was a harveys neo (15 years ago) and it had the dump on the left bicep. Chest dump is usually an older design. Of course it could have been a special order. It is certainly possible to get the valve moved and the hole in the chest patched if it is too much of a pita.

On my suit, the wrist neoprene did not need to be folded, while the neck one did.

I found the neoprene wrist seals just didn't last on my suit, unfortunately. They were superb warmth-and-seal-wise, but they ended up splitting on the seam. Switched to latex wrist seals -- not as warm but appear to be more durable.

On my gf's O'Neill drysuit the wrist seals need to be folded to get the smooth side to form a seal with the wrist. With certain types of dry gloves the folding might not be necessary. I've also read about seals that don't require folding - they have the smooth side on the inside, or both inside and outside.

The dump valve location does sound problematic. I'd try diving the suit first to see if it works and if you like it. If you do then I'd replace the chest dump with either a shoulder or cuff dump, depending on your preference. If you end up not liking it, then just sell it again...